How to Find the Right Email List Provider

There are many things that successful business ventures have in common, one of which is that they keep a large database of contacts. These past and existing clients, new prospects, suppliers, and partners will be the “audience” for their direct mail or email campaigns, which can take company sales and growth to new heights. It is now highly recommended to use tools like national change of address (NCOA) data to have updated contact information, but the more basic question is: how do you find the best email list provider?

There is much caution needed, because several unscrupulous businesses claim to offer email lists and opt-in mailing services when they are actually spammers. In this case, there are ways to find a dependable supplier:

Call the company. Make sure to talk to a real and authorized person. Inquire about the source of their lists, how such lists are complied, and if the recipients on their lists have prior permission to receive email advertising of the kind you are planning to send.

Avoid companies engaged in “bulk email business” or someone whose lists are obtained from public sources. Those very terms are a red flag, because they mean that the addresses have been collected through extraction programs from spammers.

Avoid companies with extremely low prices. More often than not, they are list providers that fall under #2. Why would they sell a million addresses for only a hundred dollars or two?

It is still possible to find an email list provider with reasonable prices and with a guarantee of success on your part. Shop around for trusted providers, and compare prices. Once you have finally chosen one, ask the list owner if they are willing to review your email copy, design, website, and suggest ways to get better target audience response. Naturally, the provider will want you to reap success, because it translates to you coming back to buy more advertising.

Any direct mail advertising should be tested; several list owners, for example, will allow you to try mailing to a smaller sample as a test run. If there is promising response rate, you can start rolling out to the entire list.

As for ensuring the quality of your contacts’ information, it is also best to maximize Web-based tools like national change of address (NCOA) service, which updates and validates US addresses and returns NCOA-matched address data in real time. Move update and pertinent updates are also provided weekly to keep your mailing lists clean and accurate.

With direct being a powerful marketing or client notification tool, it is a must for your have the right list provider offering a sizeable number of contacts, as well as value-added tools to make sure the addresses you have are deliverable.

Discover how NCOA services can help improve your email lists and give your email marketing campaigns a much needed boost.